5/10/14

I saw something in a previous reading that I immediately bookmarked. It was on page 141, when the inmates were trying to decide wether or not to give up their valuables for food. It says, "We shall all give up what we've got and hand over everything, said the doctor, And what about those who have nothing to give, asked the pharmacist's assistant, They will eat whatever the others decide to give them, as the saying rightly goes, from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs". This stuck out to me for many reasons. First of all, this was the same phrase that was used in The Handmaid's Tale. In that novel, it was twisted into a manipulating phrase that was used to force women to become child-bearing slaves. In this book, it is used more correctly according to the phrase itself, but it still seems harsh. These inmates had no idea they would need valuables in order to obtain food once they were locked in the prison. In this sense, it seems sort or cruel that the ones who hadn't brought valuables wouldn't get to eat. It isn't until later that we see the valuables of the whole ward serve as payment for everyone in it, but it was interesting to me to see this phrase used again in a novel, in a different way but still in a way that wouldn't end well for everyone.